Search results for: reverse time migration (RTM)

Authors: Luke Andrighetto, Paul G. Stevenson, Luke C. Henderson, Jim Pearson, Xavier A. Conlan

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As pseudoephedrine, a common ingredient in cold and flu medications is closely monitored and restricted in Australia, alternative methods of accessing it are of interest. The impurities and by-products of every reaction step of pseudoephedrine/ephedrine and methamphetamine synthesis have been mapped in order to develop a chemical fingerprint based on synthetic route. Likewise, seized methamphetamine contains a combination of different cutting agents and starting materials. Therefore, in-silico optimised two-dimensional HPLC with DryLab® and OpenMS® software has been used to efficiently separate complex seizure samples. An excellent match between simulated and real separations was observed. Targeted separation of model compounds was completed with significantly reduced method development time. This study produced a two-dimensional separation regime that offers unprecedented separation power (separation space) while maintaining a rapid analysis time that is faster than those previously reported for gas chromatography, single dimension high performance liquid chromatography or capillary electrophoresis.

Keywords: chemical fingerprint, ephedrine, methamphetamine, two-dimensional HPLC

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Authors: Swarali Hingse, Shraddha Digole, Uday Annapure

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The present study investigates the biotransformation of ferulic acid to vanillin by Pycnoporus cinnabarinus and its optimization using one-factor-at-a-time method as well as statistical approach. Effect of various physicochemical parameters and medium components was studied using one-factor-at-a-time method. Screening of the significant factors was carried out using L25 Taguchi orthogonal array and then these selected significant factors were further optimized using response surface methodology (RSM). Significant media components obtained using Taguchi L25 orthogonal array were glucose, KH2PO4 and yeast extract. Further, a Box Behnken design was used to investigate the interactive effects of the three most significant media components. The final medium obtained after optimization using RSM containing glucose (34.89 g/L), diammonium tartrate (1 g/L), yeast extract (1.47 g/L), MgSO4•7H2O (0.5 g/L), KH2PO4 (0.15 g/L), and CaCl2•2H2O (20 mg/L) resulted in amplification of vanillin production from 30.88 mg/L to 187.63 mg/L.

Keywords: ferulic acid, pycnoporus cinnabarinus, response surface methodology, vanillin

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Authors: Mohammad Muslim, M. Shafiq Ansari, Fazil Hasan

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Bracon hebetor Say (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) is considered as a highly cosmopolitan ecto-parasitoid of various species of order Lepidoptera. To study the influence of lepidopteran hosts on population growth of B. hebetor, the newly mated gravid females were released on various host and the eggs laid by such females on respective host were counted and a single egg was allow to develop on single host larvae. The experiment was conducted at 27 ± 1°C, 65 ± 5% RH and 14L: 10D hr in Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) chamber. Upon hatching the tiny larvae of parasitoid pierced the body of insect host, enter into them and consumed the internal body contents of paralyzed host larvae. Present findings showed that B. hebetor took ~36 days to complete its survivorship on Corcyra cephalonica and Galleria mellonella. However, on Spodoptera littoralis the survivorship decreased to 24 days. Nevertheless, development of H. hebetor’s immature was significantly prolonged on S. littoralis and S. litura compared to other insect hosts tested. Female of B. hebetor took longer time to lay eggs on C. cephalonica and G. mellonella than other hosts tested in this study. Longevity of male and female is significantly prolonged on C. cephalonica and G. mellonella compared to others insect hosts tested. Population growth parameters like mx Ro, rm, Tc, and τ was considerably highest on C. cephalonica and lowest on S. littoralis. Based on the demographic studies C. cephalonica and H. armegera were proved to be the most suitable host for the mass rearing of B. hebetor. Nevertheless, results of present investigation could be utilized to improve the mass-breeding program of B. hebetor, so that sufficient number of B. hebetor’s adults could be provided time to time for the effective control of lepidopteran pests of various economically important crops.

Keywords: Bracon hebetor, lepidopteran hosts, demography, biology, development

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Authors: Khadijat Olabisi Abdulwahab, Mohammad Azad Malik, Paul O'Brien, Grigore Timco, Floriana Tuna

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The synthesis of spinel ferrite nanoparticles with a narrow size distribution is very crucial in their numerous applications including information storage, hyperthermia treatment, drug delivery, contrast agent in magnetic resonance imaging, catalysis, sensors, and environmental remediation. Ferrites have the general formula MFe₂O₄ (M = Fe, Co, Mn, Ni, Zn e.t.c) and possess remarkable electrical and magnetic properties which depend on the cations, method of preparation, size and their site occupancies. To the best of our knowledge, there are no reports on the use of a single source precursor to synthesise quaternary ferrite nanoparticles. Here in, we demonstrated the use of trimetallic iron pivalate cluster [CrCoFeO(O₂CᵗBu)₆(HO₂CᵗBu)₃] as a single source precursor to synthesise monodisperse cobalt chromium ferrite (FeCoCrO₄) nanoparticles by the hot injection thermolysis method. The precursor was thermolysed in oleylamine, oleic acid, with diphenyl ether as solvent at 260 °C. The effect of reaction time on the stoichiometry, phases or morphology of the nanoparticles was studied. The p-XRD patterns of the nanoparticles obtained after one hour was pure phase of cubic iron cobalt chromium ferrite (FeCoCrO₄). TEM showed that a more monodispersed spherical ferrite nanoparticles were obtained after one hour. Magnetic measurements revealed that the ferrite particles are superparamagnetic at room temperature. The nanoparticles were characterised by Powder X-ray Diffraction (p-XRD), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) and Super Conducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID).

Keywords: cobalt chromium ferrite, colloidal, hot injection thermolysis, monodisperse, reaction time, single source precursor, quaternary ferrite nanoparticles

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Authors: W. Badla

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A numerical investigation has been carried out to examine the behaviour of reinforced concrete slabs to uniform blast loading. The aim of this work is to determine the effects of various parameters on the results. Finite element simulations were performed in the non linear dynamic range using an elasto-plastic damage model. The main parameters considered are: the negative phase of blast loading, time duration, equivalent weight of TNT, distance of the explosive and slab dimensions. Numerical modelling has been performed using ABAQUS/Explicit. The results obtained in terms of displacements and propagation of damage show that the above parameters influence considerably the nonlinear dynamic behaviour of reinforced concrete slabs under uniform blast loading.

Keywords: blast loading, reinforced concrete slabs, elasto-plastic damage model, negative phase, time duration, equivalent weight of TNT, explosive distance, slab dimensions

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Authors: Emielex M. Aguilar, Kristen Angela G. Cruz, Czarina Joie L. Rivera, Francis Dave C. Tan, Gavino Ivan N. Tanodra, Dianne Katrina G. Usana, Mary Grace T. Valentin, Nico Albert S. Vasquez, Edwin Monico C. Wee

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The risk of diabetes mellitus is increasing in the Philippines, with Metformin and Insulin as drugs commonly used for its management. The use of herbal medicines has grown increasingly, especially among the elderly population. Moringa oleifera or malunggay is one of the most common plants in the country, and several studies have shown the plant to exhibit a hypoglycemic property with its flavonoid content. This study aims to investigate the possible effects of concomitant use of Metformin and powdered M. oleifera leaves (PMOL) on blood glucose levels. Twenty male Sprague-Dawley rats were equally distributed into four groups. Fasting blood glucose levels of the rats were measured prior to experimentation. The following treatments were administered to the four groups, respectively: glucose only 2 g/kg; glucose 2 g/kg + Metformin 100 mg/kg; glucose 2 g/kg + PMOL 200 mg/kg; and glucose 2 g/kg + PMOL 200 mg/kg and Metformin 100 mg/kg. Blood glucose levels were determined on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th hour post-treatment and compared between groups. Statistical analysis showed that the type of intervention did not show significance in the reduction of blood glucose levels when compared with the other groups (p=0.378), while the effect of time exhibited significance (p=0.000). The interaction between the type of intervention and time of blood glucose measurement was shown to be significant (p=0.024). Within each group, the control and PMOL-treated groups showed significant reduction in blood glucose levels over time with p-values of 0.000 and 0.000, respectively, while the Metformin-treated and the combination groups had p-values of 0.062 and 0.093, respectively, which are not significant. The descriptive data also showed that the mean total reduction of blood glucose levels of the Metformin and PMOL combination treatment group was lower than the PMOL-treated group alone, while the mean total reduction of blood glucose levels of the combination group was higher than the Metformin-treated group alone. Based on the results obtained, the combination of Metformin and PMOL did not significantly lower the blood glucose levels of the rats as compared to the other groups. However, the concomitant use of Metformin and PMOL may affect each other’s blood glucose lowering activity. Additionally, prolonged time of exposure and delay in the first blood glucose measurement after treatment could exhibit a significant effect in the blood glucose levels. Further studies are recommended regarding the effects of the concomitant use of the two agents on blood glucose levels.

Keywords: blood glucose levels, concomitant use, metformin, Moringa oleifera

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Authors: Simon Caba, Raja Abou Ackl, Svend Rasmussen, Nicholas E. Pedersen

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It is a challenge to directly monitor cavitation in a pump application during operation because of a lack of visual access to validate the presence of cavitation and its form of appearance. In this work, experimental investigations are carried out in an inline single-stage centrifugal pump with optical access. Hence, it gives the opportunity to enhance the value of CFD tools and standard cavitation measurements. Experiments are conducted using two impellers running in the same volute at 3000 rpm and the same flow rate. One of the impellers used is optimized for lower NPSH₃% by its blade design, whereas the other one is manufactured using a standard casting method. The cavitation is detected by pump performance measurements, vibration measurements and high-speed image recordings. The head drop and the pump casing vibration caused by cavitation are correlated with the visual appearance of the cavitation. The vibration data is recorded in an axial direction of the impeller using accelerometers recording at a sample rate of 131 kHz. The vibration frequency domain data (up to 20 kHz) and the time domain data are analyzed as well as the root mean square values. The high-speed recordings, focusing on the impeller suction side, are taken at 10,240 fps to provide insight into the flow patterns and the cavitation behavior in the rotating impeller. The videos are synchronized with the vibration time signals by a trigger signal. A clear correlation between cloud collapses and abrupt peaks in the vibration signal can be observed. The vibration peaks clearly indicate cavitation, especially at higher NPSHA values where the hydraulic performance is not affected. It is also observed that below a certain NPSHA value, the cavitation started in the inlet bend of the pump. Above this value, cavitation occurs exclusively on the impeller blades. The impeller optimized for NPSH₃% does show a lower NPSH₃% than the standard impeller, but the head drop starts at a higher NPSHA value and is more gradual. Instabilities in the head drop curve of the optimized impeller were observed in addition to a higher vibration level. Furthermore, the cavitation clouds on the suction side appear more unsteady when using the optimized impeller. The shape and location of the cavitation are compared to 3D fluid flow simulations. The simulation results are in good agreement with the experimental investigations. In conclusion, these investigations attempt to give a more holistic view on the appearance of cavitation by comparing the head drop, vibration spectral data, vibration time signals, image recordings and simulation results. Data indicates that a criterion for cavitation detection could be derived from the vibration time-domain measurements, which requires further investigation. Usually, spectral data is used to analyze cavitation, but these investigations indicate that the time domain could be more appropriate for some applications.

Keywords: cavitation, centrifugal pump, head drop, high-speed image recordings, pump vibration

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Authors: Ariadna Manresa, Ines Ferrer

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Introduction: Ultrasonic moulding process (USM) is a recent injection technology used to manufacture micro components. It is able to melt small amounts of material so the waste of material is certainly reduced comparing to microinjection molding. This is an important advantage when the materials are expensive like medical biopolymers. Micro-scaled components are involved in a variety of uses, such as biomedical applications. It is required replication fidelity so it is important to stabilize the process and minimize the variability of the responses. The aim of this research is to investigate the influence of the main process parameters on the filling behaviour, the dimensional accuracy and the cavity pressure when a micro-plate is manufactured by biomaterials such as PLA and PCL. Methodology or Experimental Procedure: The specimens are manufactured using a Sonorus 1G Ultrasound Micro Molding Machine. The used geometry is a rectangular micro-plate of 15x5mm and 1mm of thickness. The materials used for the investigation are PLA and PCL due to biocompatible and degradation properties. The experimentation is divided into two phases. Firstly, the influence of process parameters (vibration amplitude, sonotrodo velocity, ultrasound time and compaction force) on filling behavior is analysed, in Phase 1. Next, when filling cavity is assured, the influence of both cooling time and force compaction on the cavity pressure, part temperature and dimensional accuracy is instigated, which is done in Phase. Results and Discussion: Filling behavior depends on sonotrodo velocity and vibration amplitude. When the ultrasonic time is higher, more ultrasonic energy is applied and the polymer temperature increases. Depending on the cooling time, it is possible that when mold is opened, the micro-plate temperature is too warm. Consequently, the polymer relieve its stored internal energy (ultrasonic and thermal) expanding through the easier direction. This fact is reflected on dimensional accuracy, causing micro-plates thicker than the mold. It has also been observed the most important fact that affects cavity pressure is the compaction configuration during the manufacturing cycle. Conclusions: This research demonstrated the influence of process parameters on the final micro-plated manufactured. Future works will be focused in manufacturing other geometries and analysing the mechanical properties of the specimens.

Keywords: biomaterial, biopolymer, micro injection molding, ultrasound

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Authors: Haowen Xu, Xiaobing Liu, Jin Dong, Jianming Lian

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Emerging smart buildings often employ cyberinfrastructure, cyber-physical systems, and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to increase the automation and responsiveness of building operations for better energy efficiency and lower carbon emission. These operations include the control of Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) and lighting systems, which are often considered a major source of energy consumption in both commercial and residential buildings. Developing energy-saving control models for optimizing HVAC operations usually requires the collection of high-quality instrumental data from iterations of in-situ building experiments, which can be time-consuming and labor-intensive. This abstract describes a digital twin approach to automate building energy experiments for optimizing HVAC operations through the design and development of an adaptive web-based platform. The platform is created to enable (a) automated data acquisition from a variety of IoT-connected HVAC instruments, (b) real-time situational awareness through domain-based visualizations, (c) adaption of HVAC optimization algorithms based on experimental data, (d) sharing of experimental data and model predictive controls through web services, and (e) cyber-physical control of individual instruments in the HVAC system using outputs from different optimization algorithms. Through the digital twin approach, we aim to replicate a real-world building and its HVAC systems in an online computing environment to automate the development of building-specific model predictive controls and collaborative experiments in buildings located in different climate zones in the United States. We present two case studies to demonstrate our platform’s capability for real-time situational awareness and cyber-physical control of the HVAC in the flexible research platforms within the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) main campus. Our platform is developed using adaptive and flexible architecture design, rendering the platform generalizable and extendable to support HVAC optimization experiments in different types of buildings across the nation.

Keywords: energy-saving buildings, digital twins, HVAC, cyber-physical system, BIM

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Authors: M. T. Islam, S. H. Shakif, R. Hasan, S. H. Kobi

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Investigation of rainfall trends is crucial considering climate change, food security, and the economy of a particular region. This research aims to study seasonal and annual precipitation trends and their abrupt changes over time in the south-central climatic zone of Bangladesh using monthly time series data of 50 years (1970-2019). A trend-free pre-whitening method has been employed to make necessary adjustments for autocorrelations in the rainfall data. Trends in rainfall and their intensity have been observed using the non-parametric Mann-Kendall test and Theil-Sen estimator. Significant changes and fluctuation points in the data series have been detected using the sequential Mann-Kendall test at the 95% confidence limit. The study findings show that most of the rainfall stations in the study area have a decreasing precipitation pattern throughout all seasons. The maximum decline in the rainfall intensity has been found for the Tangail station (-8.24 mm/year) during monsoon. Madaripur and Chandpur stations have shown slight positive trends in post-monsoon rainfall. In terms of annual precipitation, a negative rainfall pattern has been identified in each station, with a maximum decrement (-) of 14.48 mm/year at Chandpur. However, all the trends are statistically non-significant within the 95% confidence interval, and their monotonic association with time ranges from very weak to weak. From the sequential Mann-Kendall test, the year of changing points for annual and seasonal downward precipitation trends occur mostly after the 90s for Dhaka and Barishal stations. For Chandpur, the fluctuation points arrive after the mid-70s in most cases.

Keywords: trend analysis, Mann-Kendall test, Theil-Sen estimator, sequential Mann-Kendall test, rainfall trend

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Authors: Avigail Moor

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A decline in women’s sexual desire over the course of long-term relationships, relative to men’s, has been frequently noted. Yet, while there is ample evidence that this change in women is quite common, it is still generally pathologized. Moreover, little is known regarding its true meaning for women and the effect it has on their wellbeing. In light of that, our primary goal was to investigate women's subjective experiences of this reality. Do they connect it to dysfunction in self or marriage, or rather they don't equate love and sex, which for them simply become less connected with time, even as the relationship remains entirely fulfilling? A second goal was to explore how such gender-based differences in sexual desire impact women, and indirectly the couple and partner, in terms of wellbeing and satisfaction from the relationship. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 women in committed long-term relations, aged 25 and over. The findings indicate that for women, there is no contradiction between a loving relation and a decline in spontaneous sexual desire. At the same time, while not rooted in a problem, it does create some. Tension, frustration, conflict, and pressure are some of the negative sequelae that carry adverse effects for women’s wellbeing, the solution to which requires, in their opinion, honest dialogue, mutual respect, and reasonable compromise.

Keywords: gender, sexuality, sexual desire, well being

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Authors: Hamed Ouattara, Pierre Duthon, Frédéric Bernardin, Omar Ait Aider, Pascal Salmane

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In this article, we present three neural network architectures for real-time classification of weather conditions (sunny, rainy, snowy, foggy) from images. Inspired by recent advances in style transfer, two of these architectures -Truncated ResNet50 and Truncated ResNet50 with Gram Matrix and Attention- surpass the state of the art and demonstrate re-markable generalization capability on several public databases, including Kaggle (2000 images), Kaggle 850 images, MWI (1996 images) [1], and Image2Weather [2]. Although developed for weather detection, these architectures are also suitable for other appearance-based classification tasks, such as animal species recognition, texture classification, disease detection in medical images, and industrial defect identification. We illustrate these applications in the section “Applications of Our Models to Other Tasks” with the “SIIM-ISIC Melanoma Classification Challenge 2020” [3].

Keywords: weather simulation, weather measurement, weather classification, weather detection, style transfer, Pix2Pix, CycleGAN, CUT, neural style transfer

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Authors: G. M. Komaki, S. Mobin, E. Teymourian, S. Sheikh

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This paper addresses minimizing the makespan of the distributed permutation flow shop scheduling problem. In this problem, there are several parallel identical factories or flowshops each with series of similar machines. Each job should be allocated to one of the factories and all of the operations of the jobs should be performed in the allocated factory. This problem has recently gained attention and due to NP-Hard nature of the problem, metaheuristic algorithms have been proposed to tackle it. Majority of the proposed algorithms require large computational time which is the main drawback. In this study, a general variable neighborhood search algorithm (GVNS) is proposed where several time-saving schemes have been incorporated into it. Also, the GVNS uses the sophisticated method to change the shaking procedure or perturbation depending on the progress of the incumbent solution to prevent stagnation of the search. The performance of the proposed algorithm is compared to the state-of-the-art algorithms based on standard benchmark instances.

Keywords: distributed permutation flow shop, scheduling, makespan, general variable neighborhood search algorithm

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Authors: Jungho Moon, Myunggon Yoon

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This paper presents an implementation of a configurable UART-to-Ethernet converter using an ARM-based 32-bit microcontroller as well as a dedicated configuration program running on a PC for configuring the operating parameters of the converter. The program was written in Python. Various parameters pertaining to the operation of the converter can be modified by the configuration program through the Ethernet interface of the converter. The converter supports 3 representative asynchronous serial communication protocols, RS-232, RS-422, and RS-485 and supports 3 network modes, TCP/IP server, TCP/IP client, and UDP client. The TCP/IP and UDP protocols were implemented on the microcontroller using an open source TCP/IP protocol stack called lwIP (A lightweight TCP/IP) and FreeRTOS, a free real-time operating system for embedded systems. Due to the use of a real-time operating system, the firmware of the converter was implemented as a multi-thread application and as a result becomes more modular and easier to develop. The converter can provide a seamless bridge between a serial port and an Ethernet port, thereby allowing existing legacy apparatuses with no Ethernet connectivity to communicate using the Ethernet protocol.

Keywords: converter, embedded systems, ethernet, lwIP, UART

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Authors: Diego S. Caetano, Doreen E. Kalz, Louise L. B. Lomardo, Luiz P. Rosa

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The energy consumption in non-residential buildings in Brazil has a great impact on the national infrastructure. The growth of the energy consumption has a special role over the building cooling systems, supported by the increased people's requirements on hygrothermal comfort. This paper presents how the occupants of office buildings notice and evaluate the hygrothermic comfort regarding temperature, humidity, and air movement, considering the cooling systems presented at the buildings studied, analyzed by real occupants in areas of hot and humid climate. The paper presents results collected over a long time from 3 office buildings in the cities of Rio de Janeiro and Niteroi (Brazil) in 2015 and 2016, from daily questionnaires with eight questions answered by 114 people between 3 to 5 weeks per building, twice a day (10 a.m. and 3 p.m.). The paper analyses 6 out of 8 questions, emphasizing on the perception of temperature, humidity, and air movement. Statistics analyses were made crossing participant answers and humidity and temperature data related to time high time resolution time. Analyses were made from regressions comparing: internal and external temperature, and then compared with the answers of the participants. The results were put in graphics combining statistic graphics related to temperature and air humidity with the answers of the real occupants. Analysis related to the perception of the participants to humidity and air movements were also analyzed. The hygrothermal comfort statistic model of the European standard DIN EN 15251 and that from the Brazilian standard NBR 16401 were compared taking into account the perceptions of the hygrothermal comfort of the participants, with emphasis on air humidity, taking basis on prior studies published on this same research. The studies point out a relative tolerance for higher temperatures than the ones determined by the standards, besides a variation on the participants' perception concerning air humidity. The paper presents a group of detailed information that permits to improve the quality of the buildings based on the perception of occupants of the office buildings, contributing to the energy reduction without health damages and demands of necessary hygrothermal comfort, reducing the consumption of electricity on cooling.

Keywords: thermal comfort, energy consumption, energy standards, comfort models

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Authors: Muhammad Ali Sarwar, Muhammad Farooq, Nayab Hassan, Hammad Hassan

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Pakistan is highly recognized for its agriculture and is well known for producing substantial amounts of wheat, cotton, and sugarcane. However, some factors contribute to a decline in crop quality and a reduction in overall output. One of the main factors contributing to this decline is the presence of weed and its late detection. This process of detection is manual and demands a detailed inspection to be done by the farmer itself. But by the time detection of weed, the farmer will be able to save its cost and can increase the overall production. The focus of this research is to identify and classify the four main types of weeds (Small-Flowered Cranesbill, Chick Weed, Prickly Acacia, and Black-Grass) that are prevalent in our region’s major crops. In this work, we implemented three different deep learning techniques: YOLO-v5, Inception-v3, and Deep CNN on the same Dataset, and have concluded that deep convolutions neural network performed better with an accuracy of 97.45% for such classification. In relative to the state of the art, our proposed approach yields 2% better results. We devised the architecture in an efficient way such that it can be used in real-time.

Keywords: deep convolution networks, Yolo, machine learning, agriculture

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Authors: Manon Ghislain, Timothée Bonnet, Olivier Gimenez, Olivier Dehorter, Pierre-Yves Henry

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Climatic fluctuations affect the demography of animal populations, generating changes in population size, phenology, distribution and community assemblages. However, very few studies have identified the underlying demographic processes. For short-lived species, like common passerine birds, are these changes generated by changes in adult survival or in fecundity and recruitment? This study tests for an effect of annual climatic conditions (spring and winter) on annual, local adult survival at very large spatial (a country, 252 sites), temporal (25 years) and biological (25 species) scales. The Constant Effort Site ringing has allowed the collection of capture - mark - recapture data for 100 000 adult individuals since 1989, over metropolitan France, thus documenting annual, local survival rates of the most common passerine birds. We specifically developed a set of multi-year, multi-species, multi-site Bayesian models describing variations in local survival and recapture probabilities. This method allows for a statistically powerful hierarchical assessment (global versus species-specific) of the effects of climate variables on survival. A major part of between-year variations in survival rate was common to all species (74% of between-year variance), whereas only 26% of temporal variation was species-specific. Although changing spring climate is commonly invoked as a cause of population size fluctuations, spring climatic anomalies (mean precipitation or temperature for March-August) do not impact adult survival: only 1% of between-year variation of species survival is explained by spring climatic anomalies. However, for sedentary birds, winter climatic anomalies (North Atlantic Oscillation) had a significant, quadratic effect on adult survival, birds surviving less during intermediate years than during more extreme years. For migratory birds, we do not detect an effect of winter climatic anomalies (Sahel Rainfall). We will analyze the life history traits (migration, habitat, thermal range) that could explain a different sensitivity of species to winter climate anomalies. Overall, we conclude that changes in population sizes for passerine birds are unlikely to be the consequences of climate-driven mortality (or emigration) in spring but could be induced by other demographic parameters, like fecundity.

Keywords: Bayesian approach, capture-recapture, climate anomaly, constant effort sites scheme, passerine, seasons, survival

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Authors: Maria Ulfa, Nur Awaliyah Putri

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Madurese is known as Malayo-Sumbawan Austronesian language which is used by Madurese people in Madura Island, Indonesia. However, there was a massive migration of Madurese people due to Dutch colonization. The Madurese people were brought by force for cultivation system to the eastern salient north coast or called as Tapal Kuda that spread in region covers the regencies of Probolinggo, Lumajang, Jember, Situbondo, Bondowoso, and Banyuwangi, the eastern part of the Pasuruan Regency, as well as the city of Probolinggo. The city of Probolinggo has unique characteristic regarding the ethnic and language variation. Several ethnics can be found in this city, such as Madurese, Javanese, Tengger, Arabic, Mandhalungan, Osing, and Chinese. Hence, the hybrid culture happens in Probolinggo, they called the culture as Pendhalungan which is the combination of culture among Madurese and Javanese. Among those ethnics, Madurese is the strongest ethnic that still maintains their identity, such as their ethnic language. The massive growth of Madurese in Probolinggo city, East Java is interesting to be analyzed. The object of this study is to discover language ideology and literacy of Madurese to maintain their ethnic language in Probolinggo city, East Java. The researchers used the theory of language maintenance practice based on three types of practices social language, social literacy, and peripheral ritualized practices. The approach of this study was qualitative research with ethnography method. In order to collect the data, researchers used observation and interview techniques. The amount of informants were 20 families which consist of mother, father and children in 5 sub-districts in Probolinggo city and they were interviewed regarding language ideology and literacy of Madurese. In supporting the data, researchers employed the Madurese speakers outside family scope like in school, office, and market. The result of the study revealed that Madurese has been preserved heritably to young generations by ethnics of Madura in Probolinggo city. Primarily the language is being taught in the earlier age of their children as L1 and used as ethnic identity. The parents teach them with simple sentences that grammatically correct. This language literacy is applied to maintain ethnic language as their ethnicity marker since they inhabit in Javanese ethnic area. In fact, it is not the only ideology of Madurese ethnic but also the influence of economic situation like in trading communication. The usage of Madurese in the trading scope is very beneficial since people can bargain the goods cheaper and easier because most of the traders are from Madurese ethnic. In this situation, linguistic phenomena such as code mixing and code switching between Madurese and Javanese are emerged as the trading communication. From the result, it can be concluded that solidarity exists among Madurese people in many scopes.

Keywords: language literacy, language maintenance, Madurese, Probolinggo City

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Authors: Rajkumar Ghosh, Bhabani Prasad Mukhopadhay

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Groundwater contamination with fluoride has emerged as a global concern affecting millions of people, leading to the widespread occurrence of fluorosis. It affects bones and teeth, leading to dental and skeletal fluorosis. This study presents a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between groundwater contamination and fluorosis. It delves into the causes of fluoride contamination in groundwater, its spatial distribution, and adverse health impacts of fluorosis on affected communities. Fluoride contamination in groundwater can be attributed to both natural and anthropogenic sources. Geogenic sources involve the dissolution of fluoride-rich minerals present in the aquifer materials. On the other hand, anthropogenic activities such as industrial discharges, agricultural practices, and improper disposal of fluoride-containing waste contribute to the contamination of groundwater. The spatial distribution of fluoride contamination varies widely across different regions and geological formations. High fluoride levels are commonly observed in areas with fluorine-rich geological deposits. Additionally, agricultural and industrial centres often exhibit elevated fluoride concentrations due to anthropogenic contributions. Excessive fluoride ingestion during tooth development leads to dental fluorosis, characterized by enamel defects, discoloration, and dental caries. The severity of dental fluorosis varies based on fluoride exposure levels during tooth development. Long-term consumption of fluoride-contaminated water causes skeletal fluorosis, resulting in bone and joint pain, decreased joint mobility, and skeletal deformities. In severe cases, skeletal fluorosis can lead to disability and reduced quality of life. Various defluoridation techniques such as activated alumina, bone char, and reverse osmosis have been employed to reduce fluoride concentrations in drinking water. These methods effectively remove fluoride, but their implementation requires careful consideration of cost, maintenance, and sustainability. Diversifying water sources, such as rainwater harvesting and surface water supply, can reduce the reliance on fluoride-contaminated groundwater, especially in regions with high fluoride concentrations. Groundwater contamination with fluoride remains a significant public health challenge, leading to the widespread occurrence of fluorosis globally. This scientific report emphasizes the importance of understanding the relationship between groundwater contamination and fluorosis. Implementing effective mitigation strategies and preventive measures is crucial to combat fluorosis and ensure sustainable access to safe drinking water for communities worldwide. Collaborative efforts between government agencies, local communities, and scientific researchers are essential to address this issue and safeguard the health of vulnerable populations. Additionally, the report explores various mitigation strategies and preventive measures to address the issue and offers recommendations for sustainable management of groundwater resources to combat fluorosis effectively.

Keywords: fluorosis, fluoride contamination, groundwater contamination, groundwater resources

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Authors: Sweeti, Anoop Kant Godiyal, Neha Singh, Sneh Anand, B. K. Panigrahi, Jayasree Santhosh

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This work is about developing a tool for visualization and segmentation of Electroencephalograph (EEG) signals based on frequency domain features. Change in the frequency domain characteristics are correlated with change in mental state of the subject under study. Proposed algorithm provides a way to represent the change in the mental states using the different frequency band powers in form of segmented EEG signal. Many segmentation algorithms have been suggested in literature having application in brain computer interface, epilepsy and cognition studies that have been used for data classification. But the proposed method focusses mainly on the better presentation of signal and that’s why it could be a good utilization tool for clinician. Algorithm performs the basic filtering using band pass and notch filters in the range of 0.1-45 Hz. Advanced filtering is then performed by principal component analysis and wavelet transform based de-noising method. Frequency domain features are used for segmentation; considering the fact that the spectrum power of different frequency bands describes the mental state of the subject. Two sliding windows are further used for segmentation; one provides the time scale and other assigns the segmentation rule. The segmented data is displayed second by second successively with different color codes. Segment’s length can be selected as per need of the objective. Proposed algorithm has been tested on the EEG data set obtained from University of California in San Diego’s online data repository. Proposed tool gives a better visualization of the signal in form of segmented epochs of desired length representing the power spectrum variation in data. The algorithm is designed in such a way that it takes the data points with respect to the sampling frequency for each time frame and so it can be improved to use in real time visualization with desired epoch length.

Keywords: de-noising, multi-channel data, PCA, power spectra, segmentation

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Authors: Mbugua R. N., Salim R. W., Ndambuki J. M.

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Natural admixtures provide concrete with enhanced properties but their processing end up making them very expensive resulting in increase to cost of concrete. In this study the effect of Gum from Acacia Karroo (GAK) as set-retarding admixture in cement pastes was studied. The possibility of using GAK as water reducing admixture both in cement mortar concrete was also investigated. Cement pastes with different dosages of GAK were prepared to measure the setting time using different dosages. Compressive strength of cement mortars with 0.7, 0.8 and 0.9% weight of cement and w/c ratio of 0.5 were compared to those with water cement (w/c) ratio of 0.44 but same dosage of GAK. Concrete samples were prepared using higher dosages of GAK (1, 2 and 3\% wt of cement) and a water bidder (w/b) of 0.61 were compared to those with the same GAK dosage but with reduced w/b ratio. There was increase in compressive strength of 9.3% at 28 days for cement mortar samples with 0.9% dosage of GAK and reduced w/c ratio.

Keywords: compressive strength, Gum Acacia Karroo, retarding admixture, setting time, water-reducing admixture

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Authors: S. Mat Radzi, N. J. Abd Rahman, H. Mohd Noor, N. Ariffin

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Ferulic acid has widespread industrial potential by virtue of its antioxidant properties. However, it is partially soluble in aqueous media, limiting their usefulness in oil-based processes in food, cosmetic, pharmaceutical, and material industry. Therefore, modification of ferulic acid should be made by producing of more lipophilic derivatives. In this study, a preliminary investigation of lipase-catalyzed trans-esterification reaction of ethyl ferulate and olive oil was investigated. The reaction was catalyzed by immobilized lipase from Candida antarctica (Novozym 435), to produce ferulate ester, a sunscreen agent. A statistical approach of Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to evaluate the interactive effects of reaction temperature (40-80°C), reaction time (4-12 hours), and amount of enzyme (0.1-0.5 g). The optimum conditions derived via RSM were reaction temperature 60°C, reaction time 2.34 hours, and amount of enzyme 0.3 g. The actual experimental yield was 59.6% ferulate ester under optimum condition, which compared well to the maximum predicted value of 58.0%.

Keywords: ferulic acid, enzymatic synthesis, esters, RSM

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Authors: Delele Worku Ayele, Bing-Joe Hwang

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A method that does not employ hot injection techniques has been developed for the size-tunable synthesis of high-quality CdSe quantum dots (QDs) with a zinc blende structure. In this environmentally benign synthetic route, which uses relatively less toxic precursors, solvents, and capping ligands, CdSe QDs that absorb visible light are obtained. The size of the as-prepared CdSe QDs and, thus, their optical properties can be manipulated by changing the microwave reaction conditions. The QDs are characterized by XRD, TEM, UV-vis, FTIR, time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy, and fluorescence spectrophotometry. In this approach, the reaction is conducted in open air and at a much lower temperature than in hot injection techniques. The use of microwaves in this process allows for a highly reproducible and effective synthesis protocol that is fully adaptable for mass production and can be easily employed to synthesize a variety of semiconductor QDs with the desired properties. The possible application of the as-prepared CdSe QDs has been also assessed using deposition on TiO2 films.

Keywords: CdSe QDs, Na2SeSO3, microwave (MW), oleic acid, mass production, average life time

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Authors: Ranjeet Kumar, Pravin Suryakantrao Deshmukh, Sonal Sharma, Basudev Banerjee

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With the tremendous increase in exposure to radiofrequency microwaves emitted by mobile phones, globally public awareness has grown with regard to the potential health hazards of microwaves on the nervous system in the brain. India alone has more than one billion mobile users out of 4.3 billion globally. Our studies have suggested that radio frequency able to affect neuronal alterations in the brain, and hence, affecting cognitive behaviour. However, adverse effect of low-intensity microwave exposure with endoplasmic reticulum stress and autophagy has not been evaluated yet. In this study, we explore whether low-intensity microwave induces endoplasmic reticulum stress and autophagy with varying frequency and time duration in Wistar rat. Ninety-six male Wistar rat were divided into 12 groups of 8 rats each. We studied at 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, and 2450 MHz frequency with reference to sham-exposed group. At the end of the exposure, the rats were sacrificed to collect brain tissue and expression of CHOP, ATF-4, XBP-1, Bcl-2, Bax, LC3 and Atg-4 gene was analysed by real-time PCR. Significant fold change (p < 0.05) of gene expression was found in all groups of 1800 MHz and 2450 MHz exposure group in comparison to sham exposure group. In conclusion, the microwave exposure able to induce ER stress and modulate autophagy. ER (endoplasmic reticulum) stress and autophagy vary with increasing frequency as well as the duration of exposure. Our results suggested that microwave exposure is harmful to neuronal health as it induces ER stress and hampers autophagy in neuron cells and thereby increasing the neuron degeneration which impairs cognitive behaviour of experimental animals.

Keywords: autophagy, ER stress, microwave, nervous system, rat

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Authors: Sidharth Talan, Rajlakshmi G. Majumdar

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Problem-solving skill is one the few skills which is constantly endeavored to improve upon by the professionals and academicians around the world in order to sustain themselves in the ever-growing competitive environment. The given paper focuses on evaluating a hypothesized relationship between the problems solving efficiency of an individual with spaced repetitions, conducted with a time interval of one day over a period of two weeks. The paper has utilized uni-variate regression analysis technique to assess the best fit curve that can explain the significant relationship between the given two variables. The paper has incorporated Anagrams solving as the appropriate testing process for the analysis. Since Anagrams solving involves rearranging a jumbled word to form a correct word, it projects to be an efficient process to observe the attention span, visual- motor coordination and the verbal ability of an individual. Based on the analysis for a sample population of 30, it was observed that problem-solving efficiency of an individual, measured in terms of the score in each test was found to be significantly correlated with time period measured in days.

Keywords: Anagrams, histogram plot, moving average curve, spacing effect

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Authors: Sylvester Akpah, Selasi Vondee

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Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) as they are also known, drones have attracted increasing attention in recent years due to their ubiquitous nature and boundless applications in the areas of communication, surveying, aerial photography, weather forecasting, medical delivery, surveillance amongst others. Operated remotely in real-time or pre-programmed, drones can fly autonomously or on pre-defined routes. The application of these aerial vehicles has successfully penetrated the world due to technological evolution, thus a lot more businesses are utilizing their capabilities. Unfortunately, while drones are replete with the benefits stated supra, they are riddled with some problems, mainly attributed to the complexities in learning how to master drone flights, collision avoidance and enterprise security. Additional challenges, such as the analysis of flight data recorded by sensors attached to the drone may take time and require expert help to analyse and understand. This paper presents an autonomous drone control system using a chatbot. The system allows for easy control of drones using conversations with the aid of Natural Language Processing, thus to reduce the workload needed to set up, deploy, control, and monitor drone flight missions. The results obtained at the end of the study revealed that the drone connected to the chatbot was able to initiate flight missions with just text and voice commands, enable conversation and give real-time feedback from data and requests made to the chatbot. The results further revealed that the system was able to process natural language and produced human-like conversational abilities using Artificial Intelligence (Natural Language Understanding). It is recommended that radio signal adapters be used instead of wireless connections thus to increase the range of communication with the aerial vehicle.

Keywords: artificial ntelligence, chatbot, natural language processing, unmanned aerial vehicle

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Authors: Bandar A. Alkhayyal

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Modern supply chains are typically linear, transforming virgin raw materials into products for end consumers, who then discard them after use to landfills or incinerators. Nowadays, there are major efforts underway to create a circular economy to reduce non-renewable resource use and waste. One important aspect of these efforts is the development of Green Supply Chain (GSC) systems which enables a reverse flow of used products from consumers back to manufacturers, where they can be refurbished or remanufactured, to both economic and environmental benefit. This paper develops novel multi-objective optimization models to inform GSC system design at multiple levels: (1) strategic planning of facility location and transportation logistics; (2) tactical planning of optimal pricing; and (3) policy planning to account for potential valuation of GSC emissions. First, physical linear programming was applied to evaluate GSC facility placement by determining the quantities of end-of-life products for transport from candidate collection centers to remanufacturing facilities while satisfying cost and capacity criteria. Second, disassembly and remanufacturing processes have received little attention in industrial engineering and process cost modeling literature. The increasing scale of remanufacturing operations, worth nearly $50 billion annually in the United States alone, have made GSC pricing an important subject of research. A non-linear physical programming model for optimization of pricing policy for remanufactured products that maximizes total profit and minimizes product recovery costs were examined and solved. Finally, a deterministic equilibrium model was used to determine the effects of internalizing a cost of GSC greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions into optimization models. Changes in optimal facility use, transportation logistics, and pricing/profit margins were all investigated against a variable cost of carbon, using case study system created based on actual data from sites in the Boston area. As carbon costs increase, the optimal GSC system undergoes several distinct shifts in topology as it seeks new cost-minimal configurations. A comprehensive study of quantitative evaluation and performance of the model has been done using orthogonal arrays. Results were compared to top-down estimates from economic input-output life cycle assessment (EIO-LCA) models, to contrast remanufacturing GHG emission quantities with those from original equipment manufacturing operations. Introducing a carbon cost of $40/t CO2e increases modeled remanufacturing costs by 2.7% but also increases original equipment costs by 2.3%. The assembled work advances the theoretical modeling of optimal GSC systems and presents a rare case study of remanufactured appliances.

Keywords: circular economy, extended producer responsibility, greenhouse gas emissions, industrial ecology, low carbon logistics, green supply chains

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Authors: Mira Zhonyssova, Nurlaym Ongarbayeva, Makpal Atykhanova

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Indicators of quality of grain chickpeas, the absorption of water different temperatures by grain chickpeas studied. Organoleptic and physicochemical changes in the germination of chickpeas studied. The total time of the duration of germination of chickpea grain is determined. As a result of the analysis of experimental data, it was found that the germination time at which the chickpea sprout length was 0.5- 3 mm varies from 21 to 25 hours. The change in the volume of chickpea grain during germination was investigated. It was found that in the first 2 hours the volume of chickpeas changes slightly – by 38%. This is due to the process of adsorption of water to a critical state. From 2 to 9 hours, the process of swelling of chickpea grain is observed – the vital activity of cells increases, enzymatic systems become active, the respiratory coefficient increases; gibberellin, stimulating the formation of a number of enzymes, is released. During this period, there is a sharp increase in the volume of chickpea grains – up to 138%. From 9 to 19 hours, “sprouting” of chickpea grains is observed, no morphological changes occur in the corcule – the grain volume remains at 138%. From 19 hours, the grain growth process begins, while the grain volume increases by 143%.

Keywords: chickpea, seeds, legumes, germination, physic-chemical properties

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Authors: Jamil Ahmed

Abstract:

Access control models aim to decide whether a user should be denied or granted access to the user‟s requested activity. Various access control models have been established and proposed. The most prominent of these models include role-based, attribute-based, policy based access control models as well as role-centric attribute based access control model. In this paper, a novel access control model is presented called “Role centric Attribute based Policy Driven Access Control (RAPDAC) model”. RAPDAC incorporates the concept of “policy” in the “role centric attribute based access control model”. It leverages the concept of "policy‟ by precisely combining the evaluation of conditions, attributes, permissions and roles in order to allow authorization access. This approach allows capturing the "access control policy‟ of a real time application in a well defined manner. RAPDAC model allows making access decision at much finer granularity as illustrated by the case study of a real time library information system.

Keywords: authorization, access control model, role based access control, attribute based access control

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Authors: Sun Jin Park, Kyung-Ja Cho

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This study focused on characteristics related to hasty behaviour. To investigate the relation between personal characteristics and hasty behaviour, 601 data were collected, 335 males and 256 females answered their own 'social avoidance and distress’, ‘anxiety’, ‘sensation seeking', 'hope', and ' hasty behaviour. And then 591 data were used for the analysis. The factor analysis resulted hasty behaviour consisted of 5 factors, time pressure, isolation, uncomfortable situation, boring condition, and expectation of reward. The result showed anxiety, sensation seeking, and hope related to hasty behaviour. Specifically, anxiety was involved in every hasty behaviour. This result means that psychological tension and worry are related to hasty behaviour in common. 'Social avoidance and distress', 'sensation seeking' and 'hope' influenced on hasty behaviour under time pressure, in isolation, in expectation of rewards respectively. This means that each factor of hasty behaviour has anxiety as its basis, expressed through a varied nature.

Keywords: hasty behaviour, social avoidance and distress, anxiety, sensation seeking, hope

Procedia PDF Downloads 328